Bayelsa State Governor, Douye Diri, has revealed how his absolute faith in God earned him the sobriquet ‘miracle governor’.
According to a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Daniel Alabrah, on Saturday, the governor stated this on Friday during the Kolokuma/Opokuma Local Government Area Annual Day of Thanksgiving held in the Sampou area of the state.
Diri disclosed how, in 2020, a senior citizen of Nigeria invited him to Abuja and advised him to perform certain rituals if he wanted to be governor, but he turned down the offer.
He said that at that time, he had challenged the All Progressives Congress candidate’s declaration as the winner of the November 2019 governorship election, and the matter was then pending at the Supreme Court.
Diri told the crowd at the gathering that the senior citizen flew in some marabouts from Senegal to perform the rituals, and when he bluntly rejected the offer, he said the man demanded a refund of the money spent to transport them into the country, and he had to pay him the sum of $10,000.
He explained that his unshaken faith in God made him decline the advice to look elsewhere for help, saying God, against all the odds, proved that He is always faithful and stressed the need for politicians to learn from his experience and put their trust in God rather than in man.
The governor stated that the KOLGA people have reasons to be thankful to God, given the level of development they have witnessed, and thanked the council for giving Thanksgiving Day legal backing through legislation.
His words: “I thank God and also thank Apostle David Zilly Aggrey because he started this event. And because his prayers were heard, God made it possible to bring me in, and today, it is by law that all Kolokuma/Opokuma people can gather to praise God.
“Let me reveal to you why it is important to thank God and have faith in Him. Sometimes ago, a senior citizen of this country invited me to Abuja and asked me to perform certain sacrifices, but I declined. I told him my faith in God would not allow me to do it. He got angry and told me I would never become governor.
“He told me that he had spent $10,000 to bring the people for the sacrifice and asked for a refund, which I obliged. When the Supreme Court’s pronouncement came, the man was shocked and could not call me. Sadly, he passed on after some time. The story I have narrated was witnessed by my deputy and a friend in Abuja as both of them accompanied me to visit the senior citizen.
“Kolokuma/Opokuma people have every reason to thank God. As a state, we do not want anybody to be harmed in the name of politics because we do not know who God has destined for greatness. So I call on all of us in the political game to be very civil and recognise that there is God who rules in the affairs of man.”
In his welcome address, the chairman of Kolokuma/ Opokuma Local Government Area, Tariye Lelei, said people of the area have reason to thank God for the gift of a governor.
Lelei said it was in recognition of the goodness of God in their lives that the local government passed legislation legalising the thanksgiving on January 17 annually.
In his sermon, Apostle David Aggrey said the younger generation might not understand the reason for the thanksgiving as they did not experience the difficulty older ones in the local government area faced and said if they do not thank God for what He had done for them, they could be regarded as ingrates.
Aggrey said Bayelsa was witnessing tremendous development under Diri and thanked the people of the state for giving him the opportunity to serve a second term.
